FSU VP Bowen gets top job at Arkansas Tech

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FITCHBURG -- Robin Bowen, Fitchburg State University's executive vice president/provost, has been named president of Arkansas Tech University, FSU announced Tuesday afternoon.

ATU's board of trustees held a special meeting Tuesday at which Bowen was elected unanimously, and introduced to staff and students as the institution's 12th president, according to a press release.

Bowen becomes the first woman to serve as president at a public four-year university in Arkansas. She'll take office July 1.

FSU President Robert Antonucci extended his congratulations to Bowen on behalf of the university, and said he will miss her as "a key member of the executive team," but he knows "that her performance in Arkansas will be exceptional."

"Her service here at Fitchburg State has been outstanding, and her contributions have made a significant difference at both the university and in the greater Fitchburg community," Antonucci said. "I'm very excited for her because I think it's a wonderful professional opportunity, but I'm sad that she's leaving."

While Bowen was at the school for only three years, Antonucci said she made her mark. Bowen came to FSU in 2011 as vice president for academic affairs. Last summer, she was promoted to executive vice president/provost.

Bowen was the leader in the effort to establish FSU's undergraduate game-design major last year, making FSU the first public institution to offer such a program, Antonucci said.

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She also oversaw the restoration of the chemistry major that will resume in the fall.

Antonucci said Bowen was also active in the Fitchburg community, even moving to the city and becoming involved with the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center -- and getting the university involved as well.

"We all serve their Thanksgiving dinner every year because of her efforts," he said.

Bowen headed FSU's strategic-planning initiative, enhanced professional-development opportunities for faculty, and has been a smart and energetic team player who believed strongly in FSU and the community at large, Antonucci said.

Also, Bowen was active on the state level, he said, taking part in a higher-education task force dealing with developmental math, as well as a bargaining committee for faculty and librarian contracts.

This school year, Antonucci served as her mentor in a leadership program with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, which prepares academic vice presidents to become college presidents.

"I'm very happy for her," he said. "I'm always really excited when somebody betters themselves when they leave here. I see it as a tribute to the school itself. I don't want to hold anyone back. When an opportunity comes, you have to take advantage of it, and she did."

In her meeting with the ATU community Tuesday, Bowen said, "I am both humbled and honored to be standing here before you being named the 12th president of Arkansas Tech University. I want to thank the members of the search committee and the members of the board."

A native of Carl Junction, Mo., Bowen earned her bachelor's degree in occupational therapy from the University of Kansas, a master of education in rehabilitation counseling from the University of Arkansas, and a doctor of education in higher-education administration from Texas Tech University.

Before coming to FSU, she served as interim provost at Donnelly College in Kansas, vice president for academic affairs at Washburn University in Kansas, and dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Rockhurst University in Missouri.

"For my family and for myself, in so many ways this is like coming home," Bowen said of being in Arkansas.

Antonucci said he will look to begin the process to find a replacement for Bowen in the coming weeks, and will meet with faculty and librarians to determine what they would like in the next person for the job. He said the process will likely take some time, so he may have to consider appointing an interim vice president in the meantime.

Antonucci said FSU "is a wonderful institution for someone to come work.

"We want someone who wants to come in and work with the faculty and librarians, not against them," he said. "We want somebody who believes in the mission of Fitchburg State University."

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